Fly Over the Grand Canyon

Excerpt from Diva Las Vegas part of the Teresa the Traveler series of books. I woke up on the morning of September 4th 2009, my birthday, excited to start my forties off with a bang. Wanting to do something big, I booked a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon because you don’t get much bigger than the GRAND CANYON! After much deliberation, I booked my trip with a company called Sundance Helicopters who were founded in 1985 and claim to be the largest and most experienced helicopter company in Las Vegas having safely transported over 160,000 passengers a year. A limousine picked me up at my hotel at 12:30 pm and I shared the ride with a couple of newly weds from Scotland. I had no idea Vegas was such a popular wedding destination for people all over the world, I thought it was just for drunken celebrities and people with dysfunctional families who elope to avoid a disastrous wedding. When we got to the Sundance Terminal at McCarran Airport I was surprised to see a number of newlyweds fresh from their wedding waiting to hop on a chopper. What a great way to celebrate. It was a welcomed distraction because it kept me from fretting about my first time riding in a helicopter. I had paid way too much money to bail out so I was thankful I didn’t have to wait long. Imagining all the ways a helicopter could crash was wrecking havoc on my stress level.

Within 30 minutes my group was called and we followed our pilot out to the tarmac for a safety briefing. Since we would be flying over water, we were required to wear an inflatable life jacket around our waist. Afterwards, our pilot assigned us to our seats and since the group consisted of two couples and me I got to sit in the front. Awesome!

Lake Las Vegas On our way to the Hoover Dam, we flew over Lake Las Vegas – a man-made lake and resort in Henderson Nevada. The 320 acres lake is surrounded by 3,592 acres of resort land occupied by ritzy hotels and casinos such as: the MonteLago Village Resort, the Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort (formerly the Hyatt Regency), the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas, and Casino Monte Lago. To create the lake, developers built an 18-story earthen structure containing about as much dirt as Hoover Dam contains concrete. The lake is a popular retreat for celebrities such as Canadian singer Celine Dion who lived here while she was headlining in Vegas. Unfortunately the Lake at Las Vegas Joint Venture (the ownership group consisting of five companies) filed for bankruptcy protection in July 2008 reporting debts between $500 million and $1 billion. That’s a big chunk of change! The residents of Lake Las Vegas don’t seem to regret their decision to buy and are confident things will work out. I wonder if I could pick up a cheap piece of land there.Lake Mead Next we flew over Lake Mead – the primary water supply for Las Vegas and a lake in danger due to the current drought. In May of 2009, the lake was reportedly only at 43% of its capacity threatening to make the Las Vegas valley’s primary raw water intake inoperable. The lake, which draws the majority of its water from the snow melt in the Western Colorado Rockies, has been dropping at an alarming rate. One only needs to look at the white ring around the shoreline to see how serious the situation is. Many marinas and boat launches had to be moved or shut down completely. If the levels in the lake continue to drop, Sin City will have to find another source of water to run all the fancy water features on the strip!It is a little known fact that in 1948, a Boeing B-29-100-BW Superfortress crashed into the waters of Lake Mead while conducting a classified mission to study the sun’s solar variation. The five-man crew made it out safely but the aircraft sunk to the bottom of the lake. The crew was not allowed to discuss any details of the flight. Somewhere between Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon, our pilot pointed out the spot where the final scene from Thelma and Louise was shot. In the movie, two best friends go on a weekend road trip that goes bad after Louise shoots and kills a man who attempted to rape Thelma. Rather than report the incident to the police they make their way across the country as fugitives. When the police finally corner them, they decide the drive the car over the canyon rather get captured and spend the rest of their lives in jail. Most viewers assume they drove off the Grand Canyon, but that is not the case. The scene was filmed just south of Dead Horse Point State Park. I tried my best to get a good picture but the sky was really smoky from the wild fires burning in California at the time. When we reached the Grand Canyon I was elated. I could hardly believe I was actually flying over it in a helicopter. I had dreamt of doing this for years. I love it when my dreams come true!The Sky Walk The Grand Canyon was everything I imagined it to be and then some. It is an absolute marvel of nature – one of God’s greatest works. I wished I had opted for the tour that landed in the canyon for lunch but it looked like a nasty storm was heading our way so perhaps I chose the best option after all. We flew over the famous Grand Canyon Skywalk but we were pretty high up so I couldn’t see much. The Skywalk was funded by the Hualapai Indian tribe in partnership with Chinese-American businessman David Jin. It protrudes 20 meters beyond the edge and sits 3,600 feet above the canyon floor. This horseshoe shaped glass-bottomed walkway took 2.5 years and $30 million dollars to build. Construction started in 2004 and by 2007 it was opened to the public. It weighs 1.571 million pounds and can withstand over 71 million pounds of weight – approximately 800 average sized people although the permitted capacity is only 200. It can also withstand up to 100 mph winds and an earthquake with a magnitude of 8. Admission is around $30 US and there is no time limit but you are not allowed to bring your camera. However, they do have photographers who are happy to take your picture and sell it to you for a hefty price. As much as I enjoyed the great view from the helicopter, I wasn’t fond of the motion sickness I experienced. I can see why they have barf bags for each of the passengers. It was a struggle but I managed to make it through the tour without throwing up my breakfast. As we made our way back to Las Vegas, the sky was getting dark and the storm was catching up to us. I have been in airplanes during storms and it is not pleasant. I have no doubt it would be hell in a helicopter. We flew over the Las Vegas strip on our way back to the airport enjoying a great view of all the hotels from the Stratosphere to the Luxor. The golden Trump Tower stood out from all the rest. Probably because it is the tallest building in Vegas and the windows are gilded with 24-carat gold.

Grand Canyon Fast Facts

1. The first known European to view the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain in 1540.2. The Grand Canyon is not the deepest canyon in the world that title goes to Kali Gandaki Gorge in Nepal.3. The Grand Canyon was established as a national park in 1919.4. The weather in the Grand Canyon varies according to elevation5. The national park has approximately 1,737 known species of vascular plants, 167 species of fungi 64 species of mossand 195 species of lichen.6. There are 34 mammal species found along the Colorado River corridor of which 15 are rodents and 8 are bats.7. There are 47 reptile species in the park including lizards and snakes.8. The Grand Canyon is one of the world’s most popular natural attractions attracting around 5 million visitors annually.9. There have been about 600 Grand Canyon deaths since the 1870’s some caused by heat stroke hypothermia, drowning, airplane and helicopter crashes, lightning strikes and falling rocks.

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